my cbgb rant.
on paper, last night seemed like a recipe for success. we were playing at the cbgb's lounge (part of the very famous cbgb etc etc) on a friday night with our friends trashtalk in the kingdom. new york city on a friday, how could we go wrong?
here's how.
we found out before we went on that the upstairs lounge we were playing in is normally reserved for acoustic acts, and drummers who use brushes. This seemed like a problem given our penchant for loudness. However, we were assured that this was not a problem. My guess is that they accidentally booked 3 electric shows on a night when they only have two rooms for loud bands. so we got the shaft. the pa was simply not powerful enough and the deaf sound guy certainly didn't help (note to bands: if alex is doing your sound, you're in for a long night.) Adding insult to injury, my bass amp decided to stop working about 3 minutes into the set. cass from trashtalk was nice enough to let me plod on with his, but it was unfortunately much quieter than my amp and as a result i couldnt hear anything i was doing for the rest of the set. so there was that.
there is one other thing i should mention: trashtalk brought a six of beer with them, and graciously offered some to us. however, this blew up in our faces when the bartender/waitress/whatever decided to pick a fight with dan and holly because she saw the empty bottles by our merch table, and cbgb doesnt sell the type of beer that we had. she "took our name" and told us we were never going to play there again (which is a FUCKING JOKE BECAUSE IT'S CLOSING ANYWAY.)
at this point i would like to point out that we didn't get paid. so not only did we drive to nyc for no money but the "privilege" to play in your "historical club" (technically, next to the historical club) but you then give us shit because we dont want to pay 6 bucks for a red stripe? go fuck yourself. i'm sick of little steven and all these "punk rock elders" giving speeches about how important the venue is. i mean, everyone knows its bullshit, no one "important" has played there in 25 years. you could have a similar argument for making studio 54 a landmark.
and its not like they're putting in a walmart, either: its going to a HOMELESS SHELTER. that might be more important than ripping off idiots like us. i don't mean to come a cross as whining, i guess i just mean this as hindsight being 20/20. really though, the important thing to remember is that if you fuck a pig, don't complain when your dick smells like bacon.
here's how.
we found out before we went on that the upstairs lounge we were playing in is normally reserved for acoustic acts, and drummers who use brushes. This seemed like a problem given our penchant for loudness. However, we were assured that this was not a problem. My guess is that they accidentally booked 3 electric shows on a night when they only have two rooms for loud bands. so we got the shaft. the pa was simply not powerful enough and the deaf sound guy certainly didn't help (note to bands: if alex is doing your sound, you're in for a long night.) Adding insult to injury, my bass amp decided to stop working about 3 minutes into the set. cass from trashtalk was nice enough to let me plod on with his, but it was unfortunately much quieter than my amp and as a result i couldnt hear anything i was doing for the rest of the set. so there was that.
there is one other thing i should mention: trashtalk brought a six of beer with them, and graciously offered some to us. however, this blew up in our faces when the bartender/waitress/whatever decided to pick a fight with dan and holly because she saw the empty bottles by our merch table, and cbgb doesnt sell the type of beer that we had. she "took our name" and told us we were never going to play there again (which is a FUCKING JOKE BECAUSE IT'S CLOSING ANYWAY.)
at this point i would like to point out that we didn't get paid. so not only did we drive to nyc for no money but the "privilege" to play in your "historical club" (technically, next to the historical club) but you then give us shit because we dont want to pay 6 bucks for a red stripe? go fuck yourself. i'm sick of little steven and all these "punk rock elders" giving speeches about how important the venue is. i mean, everyone knows its bullshit, no one "important" has played there in 25 years. you could have a similar argument for making studio 54 a landmark.
and its not like they're putting in a walmart, either: its going to a HOMELESS SHELTER. that might be more important than ripping off idiots like us. i don't mean to come a cross as whining, i guess i just mean this as hindsight being 20/20. really though, the important thing to remember is that if you fuck a pig, don't complain when your dick smells like bacon.